hard to analyze NYK's end without having some idea about what else was offered to them (i have no idea). kanter's a borderline elite offensive player that didn't fit in OKC's westbrook-centric offense. he has 1 year left on his contract so hes a nice tradeable asset that NYK can do alot with. he seems like a good dude so it's possible he improves his defense/rotations/rebounding and NYK comes out with a good player. i got zero on mcdermott and the draft pick is more then likely going to be crap

the biggest winner is by far sam presti, and the dude kind of looks like a godfather losing durant for nothing and then getting PG in his prime and carmelo. considering how important it is for OKC to re-sign westbrook, their summer so far is beyond reasonable expectations given where and what they started with

for me the biggest loser is the lakers, who could've had PG13 in his prime signed on a max contract. that is looking more and more unlikely and so the lakers will have to settle for lebron and....lowry? derozan? idk but they can't be happy

if melo is willing to play heavy minutes with OKC's 2nd unit then i think they are a much better team then the rockets, and i would take WB/Pg13/Melo over any three from GSW. problem is GSW has 4 hof'ers so yeah

PG and melo gonna benefit from WB creating shots for them
melo gonna drop a lot more catch and shoot 3s

okc gsw matchup is still horrible imo
okc doesn't have the defensive discipline to keep up with gsw in a 7 game series. depth is also a serious issue. it will end swiftly in 5 at best.

i still think the answer to beating gsw is still the same. gotta get elite athletic players to bully them and grind them down. PG can do it, but melo aint checkin nobody. and russ...jesus. if russ can even put like a 3rd of his athleticism to real defense, he could turn into a lock down guy if he committed to it.

for me the biggest loser is the lakers, who could've had PG13 in his prime signed on a max contract. that is looking more and more unlikely and so the lakers will have to settle for lebron and....lowry? derozan? idk but they can't be happy

it's gonna be brolo + lebron
the only other option is maybe boogie

between ingram + bron + brolo/boogie (nice balance between perimeter and interior scoring options) there isnt that much of a need for PG. everyone is expecting ingram to basically breakout this year. PG has elite perimeter defense but can be had for cheaper. is it too much to ask ingram to fill PG's shoes? probably. but there's only so much money and magic has already deemed him untradable.
kcp makes way too much to sign for another contract. i'd look at avery bradley as a cheaper option.

Dwyane Wade has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $2.3 million deal with the Cavs.

Wade made it clear that he wanted to sign with a contender in his age-36 season and that he also wanted to be a significant part of the rotation, so it'll be interesting to see what his role looks like in Cleveland. His arrival could result in J.R. Smith being bumped from the starting five, and Love won't see quite the same uptick in usage we initially expected after the Kyrie Irving trade. Getting to the Finals at 100 percent healthy will be a priority for the Cavs this year, so expect Wade's maintenance plan to include some sort of minutes restrictions and DNPs on back-to-back sets.

Just put a $20 buy-in and make the league public after we fill with TribalWarriors who are actually going to show interest and remain active. I imagine those who are willing to throw $20 at a random league will stick around.

P.S. If you don't take Kristaps or Turner first round, you're a damned idiot!

PG and melo gonna benefit from WB creating shots for them
melo gonna drop a lot more catch and shoot 3s

HAHAHAHA!

The only way any of this works is if Paul George is comfortable taking eight shots a game while playing first-team defense and Carmelo Anthony plays the ~15 minutes Westbrook is on the bench. Otherwise, two (three?) players on the floor who can't shoot threes and love to hold the ball for 20 seconds at a time is a surefire way to miss the playoffs in the Western Conference.

The only way any of this works is if Paul George is comfortable taking eight shots a game while playing first-team defense and Carmelo Anthony plays the ~15 minutes Westbrook is on the bench. Otherwise, two (three?) players on the floor who can't shoot threes and love to hold the ball for twenty seconds at a time is a surefire way to miss the playoffs in the Western Conference.

The only way any of this works is if Paul George is comfortable taking eight shots a game while playing first-team defense and Carmelo Anthony plays the ~15 minutes Westbrook is on the bench. Otherwise, two (three?) players on the floor who can't shoot threes and love to hold the ball for 20 seconds at a time is a surefire way to miss the playoffs in the Western Conference.

GOOD LUCK!

i can dream
i hope this team finds a way to push gsw to 7 games in the playoffs
the revenge factor for WB and the idea of OKC finally winning a chip would be amazing.
the ultimate WB **** you to KD + another small market team wins a chip
the nba has everything to gain by WB winning

whats the point of lowering the chances the bottom 5 teams of the league get rewarded with high draft picks if there's still no incentive for them to climb a seed or two higher

why does orlando care if they finish 12th or 10th. if there's no practical gain to finishing 10th then they'll still try to finish lower like say 12th for the marginally increased draft pick. all this rule change does is make it harder for the worst teams in the league to draft #1-5, taking away one of the very few options front offices with bad teams have at improving their play off chances

if its intended to stop an annual race to the bottom where a few teams try to out tank each other for the #1 best draft spot then all this rule will do is lower the pool of competitors for tank-a-thon and make it easier for the eventual tanking winner. so instead of 5 teams contemplating at straight up tanking, you have 1 or 2 teams straight up tanking and 3 just plain bad teams. i don't see how fans benefit from how this rule is intended to increase the quality of late season games that under the old rules would be tanked. now you get terrible bottom 5 in the league competitive basketball instead